SCHEME EXTENDED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 250, 21 October 1944, Page 8

SCHEME EXTENDED

GRADING OF MEAT

OBJECTS EXPLAINED

CBy Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. The extension to the rest of the Dominion of the grading of meat for the retail market which has been in operation in the Wellington district for almost a year is provided for in a notice which has been gazetted.

The acting-Minister of Industries and Commerce, Mr. Nordmeyer, stated yesterday that just before his departure overseas the Minister of Industries and Commerce, Mr. Sullivan, acting with the approval of the. Cabinet, decided to extend the grading scheme in response to numerous representations from all parts of the country. The grading would coine into operation in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin on December 4, and in the remaining abattoir districts on January 1, 1945.

"Meat grading has been operating successfully in Wellington since November last year under the Board of Trade (Meat Grading) Regulations, which require the meat sold within the districts to which these apply shall be graded and marked in accordance with the provisions of the relevant standard specification," said Mr. Nordmeyer. "The extension of the grading scheme will enable the Price Tribunal to relate its price orders to the defined grades of quality which the specification establishes.

"It will also provide a clear and satisfactory basis for the wholesale and retail trade which will remove the conflict that arises from misunderstanding and disagreement concerning the quality of meat sold in relation to the price charged. It will thus establish an equitable basis for competition and so prove of benefit to both traders and consumers.

"The extension of the grading," added the Minister, "is in accordance with the Government's policy of stabilising prices in relation to quality as well as quantity, which is a necessary counterpart to the stabilisation of wages and a stabilised economy generally."